Apparatus for transposing music



p 21, 1954 P. H. BARNES APPARATUS FOR TRANSPOSING MUSIC Filed April 1,1952 JIE. l

BLHCK I l fl I I lu l I n 6 ei INVENTOR. BY

.JIE. Z

Patented Sept. 21, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for transposingmusic and more particularly to a method of and apparatus for transposingmusic by means of an apparatus so arranged that the notes appear to betransposed from one key to another upon the ledger lines. The inventiondisclosed herein is related to the disclosure in my application SerialNo. 233,603, filed June 26, 1951, for Device for Teaching Music.

Musicians often find it desirable for various reasons to transpose musicfrom one key to another. In the past .it has been the common practice torewrite a musical composition, shifting the notes with respect to thestaff. This is a long tedious operation.

An object of this invention is to provide a device for transposing thenotes from one key to another without rewriting the musical composition.This has been accomplished by providing a transparent sheet havingprinted, engraved or otherwise produced thereon several series of lines,so that upon placing this transparent sheet on top of the music, itappears as though the notes have been transposed to another key.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for and amethod of transposing the notes of the music with respect to the staff,this followed by a photographic and offset printing method forreproducing the musical composition in a diiferent key without rewritingthe music. This has been accomplished by providing a plastic sheetblocking out at least some of the staff lines and substituting thereforother staff lines arranged in proper position with respect to the notesfor the desired key.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, thecombination thereof and'the mode of operation, as will become moreapparent from the following description.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is an enlarged plan view of aportion of a sheet of music and a portion of a device for transposingthe music from one key to another.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of a sheet of music and apparatusfor transposing the music from one key to another, the dimensions beinggreatly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration.

In the drawings, the reference character l indicates a portion of asheet of music shown for the purpose of illustration. This sheet ofmusic includes the staff lines 12 (five in numher), notes I4, bars l6,et cetera. In order to transpose this music to another key, instead ofrewriting the music, a plastic sheet of transparent material 20 has beenused.

This sheet of material is at least as long as the width of the music.However, for the purpose of illustration, it has been broken away, so asto show the notes in association with the original staff lines and thento also show the notes transposed to another key.

The plastic transparent sheet 20 has printed on the underside thereoffive staff lines 22. Above and below the staff lines 22 is found aseries of red lines 24 used as ledger lines. These red lines 24 are thesame distance apart as the black staff lines 22. The red lines are alsoprinted on the underside of the plastic sheet. Midway between the blacklines and midway between the red lines, and in the center of the spacebetween the lowest black line and the underlying red line and the upperblack line 22 and the adjacent red line 24 are printed white lines 26.These white lines, when overlying a sheet of White sheet music, are forall practical purposes unnoticed. The thin white line extends throughthe note without any inconvenience to the musician. By placing the red,white and black.

lines on the underside of the sheet 20 and superimposing this sheet upona white sheet, it gives the appearance as though the white and the blacklines are printed on the white sheet.

The spacing of the white lines is equal to the spacing of the stafflines l2 of the underlying page of music. The spacing of the black lines22 and the spacing of the red lines 24 is also equal to the spacing ofthe black lines [2 on the original sheet of music 10. The width of allthe lines may be somewhat exaggerated, as is the size of the music, forthe purpose of clearness. No attempt has been made to illustrate sharpsand flats, in that the sharps and flats are a function of the key of themusic.

In transposing music from one key to another, the transparent plasticsheet 20 is placed on top of the staff of the original music with thelines 22 positioned so as to transpose the music to the desired key. Letit be assumed, for example, that it is found desirable to transpose themusic from the key of G to the key of A. This would mean raising all ofthe notes a distance equal to half the distance between staff lines.This distance equal to half the distance between staff lines may bereferred to as a degree, that is, the vertical distance between thenotes of two immediately succeeding keys.

Instead of rewriting the notes, the plastic sheet ID, with the lines 22,24 and 26 on the underside thereof, is superimposed upon the staff insuch a position that all of the notes appear to be raised a distanceequal to half the distance between staff lines when read through theplastic sheet 20, as shown in Figure 1. When arranged in this position,the white lines 26 block out the original staff lines. The thin whitelines 26 overlying the black lines pass through some of the notes, thatis, the notes located on the original staff lines, but due to thefineness of the white lines 26, it is not objectionable to the ordinaryobserver that a white line passes through the note.

The red lines 24 function as ledger lines, so that notes found above orbelow the staff lines 22 may then be interpreted or read with respect tothe red ledger lines. In the event a key is shifted from the key of G tothe key of B, the four upper staff lines 22 would then be superimposedupon the four lower staif lines l2 of the original music. When this isdone, the first red line 24 above the top staif line 22 will thenregister with the top staff line 12 of the original music. This red linewould then block out the top staif line l2 of the original sheet ofmusic. The white lines 26 would then be inconspicuously located betweenthe original staff lines I2.

By the use of this plastic sheet having the.

black, white and red lines printed on the underside, it is possible totranspose a piece of music from one key to any other key withoutrewriting the music. The black, white and red lines contacting the sheetmusic eliminate shadows. If the black, white and red lines are used onthe upper side of the plastic sheet, objectionable and confusing shadowsof the lines may be cast upon the original sheet music.

Although red and white lines have been shown in connection with theplastic sheet 20, any other suitable colors could be used. If, forexample, the original sheet music were printed upon some other colorthan white, as, for example, upon yellow paper, then the lines 26 mightbe yellow. Furthermore, the ledger lines 24 need not necessarily be red.They could be any other suitable color.

In reproducing music that has been transposed from one key to another bythe device disclosed herein, the portion of the music to the right ofthe time designation, as viewed in Figure 1, may be reproduced by anoffset printing process, in which event the sheet music can bereproduced without the tedious labor of rewriting the music. The time,the clef designation, and the necessary sharps and flats may be suppliedin any suitable manner.

This procedure greatly economizes on the cost of reproducing musictransposed from one key to another. It saves time. Furthermore, it lendsitself to the playing of printed music or a page of music in a differentkey by merely superimposing the transparent sheet having the necessaryruled lines thereon in proper position on the original page of music.

For the purpose of illustration, only one staff has been shown on theplastic sheet. Several staifs could be shown on the same sheet orseveral sheets could be used, so as to transpose all of the notes on apage of music from one key to another. Furthermore, the ledger lines,that is. the red lines, could consist of dashes with white lines locatedbetween the dashes of the same lines, so that in the event a ledger lineis used to cover up the staff line on the original composition, theentire original staff line will be covered. The ledger lines, upon beingreproduced by offset printing, will then consist of a series of dashesto distinguish them from the staff lines that are shown in full line. Bythis arrangement the red dashes cover up a part of the original staffline and the white dashes cover up the balance of the staff line.

The white lines 26 extend continuously between the staff lines 22 andthe ledger lines 24. This permits the adjustment of the plastic sheet byone degree, or by three degrees, or by any odd number of degrees.Likewise, the plastic sheet may be superimposed, so as to cover up onestaff line, or two staff lines, or any number of staff lines. By thisarrangement it is possible to transpose the original composition in onekey to any other key in the same octave or in some other octave.

The transparent plastic sheet may be made from an elastic material, sothat as the red, white and black lines are printed thereon, or otherwiseprovided thereon or therein, the spacing between the lines may beincreased by placing the elastic sheet in tension in the up and downdirection. By this arrangement the same plastic sheet may be used forvarious spacings between the staff lines.

Instead of printing the several colored lines, the lines may be etchedor engraved in one surface of the plastic sheet. The proper color maythen be applied to the lines. It is also possible to incorporate theproper pigments of the lines in the material used in manufacturing theplastic sheet. This is accomplished by adding the pigment to the solventfor the plastic used in the transparent, sheet, then applying thissolvent along straight lines. This solvent is preferably volatile, sothat after it has been applied, the volatile solvent evaporates, leavingthe pigment embedded in the surface of the plastic sheet.

The plastic sheet together with red, black and white lines printedthereon, as described above. may be superimposed upon the original stafiby offsetting a distance equal to half a space or any odd multiple of ahalf space, in which event the Original staff lines are covered by thewhite lines. By placing the plastic sheet at a distance equal to an evenmultiple of half a space, the original staif lines will be covered bythe red and black colored lines on the plastic sheet.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, itwill be understood that within the purview 01 this invention variouschanges may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement ofparts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generallystated consist in a device capable of carrying out the objects setforth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for transposing a musical composition from one keyto anothersaid musical composition including conventional notes associated withpermanent staff lines, said device including a transparent sheet, fiveequally spaced parallel lines extending across the transparent sheet,the distance between the five parallel lines being equal to the distancebetween the staff lines of the musical composition, additional equallyspaced parallel lines above and below the five parallel lines, saidadditional lines corresponding to the ledger lines and beingdistinguishable from the first mentioned five lines so that as thetransparent sheet is positioned with some of the first mentioned fivelines registering with the staff lines of the original composition thenotes appear to be shifted from one key to another.

2. A device for transposing a musical composition according to claim 1,wherein the transparent sheet is provided with white lines positionedbetween the lines referred to in claim 1 so that when the white linesare placed in registry with the original staff lines the original notesare transferred to new staff lines.

3. A device for transposing a, musical composition from one key toanother according to claim 1, wherein the lines on the transparent sheetare placed in direct contact with the original sheet.

4. A device for transposing a musical composition according to claim 1,wherein White lines are printed on the spaces between the staff linesand the ledger lines, all of the lines on the transparent sheet beinglocated on one side of the sheet so that the sheet may be superimposedupon the staff of original music with the lines in contact with theoriginal sheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,131,481 Davis Mar. 9, 1915 1,354,214 Robinson Sept. 28, 19202,516,485 Rogers July 25, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date37,370 Denmark Apr. 19-, 1927

